Obama Administration Issues New Emissions Standards for Trucks

The White House issued new rules for heavy vehicles like “tractor-trailers, buses, delivery vans, heavy pickup trucks, [and] cement mixers.” They will have to reduce fuel consumption, and greenhouse-gas emissions by 10 to 20 percent, depending on the type of truck, over the next eightyears.

The rules were issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, and they don’t need congressional approval, which is good for Obama because Republicans have a tendency to not believe in man-made global warming. They were not as ambitious as some scientists wanted, both as a way of keeping costs under control and making nice with worriedbusinesses.